


Crimson Blossom

by Eileniessa



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Bleeding through the Bandages, F/F, Healing, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26128447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eileniessa/pseuds/Eileniessa
Summary: Halfway up the stairs Tissaia stopped and placed her hand against the wall. She had felt something. Someone was trying to open a portal into Aretuza. Tissaia focused her mind and let her presence spread outwards and across the school. After a few seconds, she felt the spot where the magic was concentrated, and she recognized the sense of it; Yennefer.
Relationships: Tissaia de Vries/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894447
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	Crimson Blossom

**Author's Note:**

> Re-uploaded from ‘Bloody Entertainment’.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, the game series by CD Projekt Red and the TV series by Netflix. I do not claim ownership to any of these characters and have written this fan fiction for entertainment, not financial gain.
> 
> Warnings: Spoilers for ‘The Witcher’ Netflix show, series 1, episode 3.

Tissaia reached out with her mind and touched the edge of her apprentices’ minds while she walked through their dormitory. She could delve deeper if she wanted, but her presence did not need to be intrusive for her to sense whether they were feeling well and if they were sleeping, and she disliked peering into the minds of those who did not have a chance to resist her. It was a cruelty that had often been inflicted upon her by the Rectoress who had trained her, and even after she had ascended, her mentor had never relinquished an opportunity to test her mental defences. On many occasions, she had been laid bare before her Rectoress after the woman had torn through all her carefully constructed barriers, and despite the time that had passed since then, the thought of being read and seen for what she was made her breath catch in her throat.

Her Rectoress had tested her for centuries until she had been able to withstand her intrusions and use the connection that her assailant had established to access their mind and force her presence upon it until their thoughts were laid bare. That was the day that Tissaia had succeeded her as Rectoress, and the day that she had promised herself that she would not test her students the same way. Tissaia learned other ways to help her students strengthen their defences, and while she knew that they were not as effective she accepted them because they were less cruel, and because though was not certain that the price she had paid for her strength had been worth it.

When Tissaia had finished checking on her new students she started towards her quarters. Halfway up the stairs Tissaia stopped and placed her hand against the wall. She had felt something. Someone was trying to open a portal into Aretuza. Tissaia focused her mind and let her presence spread outwards and across the school. After a few seconds, she felt the spot where the magic was concentrated, and she recognized the sense of it; Yennefer. Tissaia clutched the pendant hanging at her chest and reached for the ward surrounding Aretuza. In her mind’s eye, she pulled at its threads and adjusted the ward to allow the caster to enter, but redirected their portal to her chambers. When she felt the portal open and close, she set the ward back in place and spent a few moments checking that she had put all the threads back where they should be. Satisfied, Tissaia continued climbing the stairs.

She wondered what the young woman wanted and why she had tried to open a portal when Yennefer knew that it was prohibited. Tissaia’s mouth went dry, and she unclasped her hands as she picked up the pace. Something must be wrong, she thought, to bring Yennefer back. She hadn’t returned to Aretuza since she had ascended, and they had not had any contact with each other since Yennefer had manoeuvred herself into King Virfuril's court. Tissaia had written her a letter a few weeks after she had taken up her position, warning her about The Brotherhood’s view of her behaviour, but she had not received a reply. Tissaia felt that her fear was justified when she sensed one or possibly two other people try to open a portal in her quarters.

Tissaia fumbled with the key to her quarters before she unlocked the door and stepped inside. With a wave of her hand, the candles flared to life and illuminated her large office. Tissaia’s fingers tightened around the door handle before she pulled herself away. Yennefer was curled up on her side in the middle of the room with strands of black hair plastered to her pale, sweaty face. She was clutching her stomach, and there was a small pool of blood soaking into the rug beneath her. Tissaia slammed the door shut and moved towards Yennefer. Her knees pressed against the wet fabric of the rug as she rolled Yennefer onto her back and pulled her hands away from her side. There was a deep, diagonal cut about an inch long in Yennefer’s stomach between her left hip bone and her bellybutton. She had been stabbed.

Tissaia pulled at the edges of the hole in Yennefer’s bloody dress to make the tear wider, pressed her hands against the wound, and started to chant an incantation.

“Dewch â'r cnawd at ei gilydd, ei wella, ei drwsio, gwau'r rhwyg at ei gilydd…”

Tissaia’s hands tingled as her magic surrounded Yennefer’s wound and worked its way through her body. In her mind, she saw hundreds of tiny little fibres grow out from either side of the wound. Under her guidance, the fibres reached across the gap, wrapped around each other, and knitted themselves into new muscle and tissue

“…Helpwch y clwyf hwn i gau, bwydo'r cnawd a'r asgwrn.”

Tissaia felt the wound close and her mind refocus as she finished her spell. She placed her hands flat against the floor in front of her to steady herself as her vision clouded and the room began to spin. Her chest felt tight and she was having difficulty breathing. Tissaia closed her eyes and waited for her light-headedness to subside before checking Yennefer’s injury. There had been too much injured tissue for her to heal the wound completely, but she had managed to repair the worst damage. The wound had been significantly reduced in size, and she had mended all but the top few layers of tissue. Yennefer’s body could do the rest of the work.

Using a basin of water, she had fetched from her adjacent quarters, Tissaia cleaned Yennefer’s wound, covered it will a pillowcase, and bandaged it with a strip cut from the bottom of her ruined dress. Then, she looked at Yennefer. The young sorceress had her eyes closed and there was blood on her face from where she had bitten her bottom lip so hard it had bled. Tissaia wiped away the mark and brushed the hair from Yennefer’s face. Her skin was pale and clammy from all the blood she had lost, and her pulse was weak, but she was breathing steadily.

Tissaia stroked Yennefer’s cheek and sighed. “What trouble have you gotten yourself into now, girl?” she said.

Yennefer turned her head to the side and leaned into the other woman’s touch. When Tissaia reached out gently with her mind she realised that Yennefer was unconscious.

Tissaia smiled. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, piglet, so I’m willing to forget about your misdemeanours for now. We will have this argument tomorrow, I’m sure, but for now, rest.”

With the use of magic, Tissaia carried Yennefer into the next room and put her down on the bed before leaving to collect some bandages and dressings. She could have woken some of the other sorceresses and have them tend to Yennefer in the medical ward, but she wanted to keep an eye on her and make sure that she didn’t disappear during the night before they had a chance to talk.

Yennefer was still sleeping peacefully when Tissaia returned. She pulled a chair up to the bed and leant forwards to cut the makeshift dressing off. That was when she noticed the dark crimson flower blossoming against the green fabric of her dress.

The bundle of cloth she had tied to Yennefer stomach was completely soaked through. It wasn’t possible, Tissaia thought, there shouldn’t be this much blood. Tissaia cut the dressing away and dropped it to the floor, staining her previously immaculate quarters. The wound in Yennefer’s stomach had re-opened and grown back to almost half it’s original size and depth. Tissaia didn’t understand. She had felt her magic working on Yennefer’s body and had seen the result of her spell. Her wound had been healed.

Tissaia knelt beside the bed and pulled Yennefer’s body to the end of the mattress. She looked at the wound more closely, moping up the blood with her sleeves, but she could not see anything unusual about it. Too spent to heal her and not knowing whether the spell would hold, Tissaia stitched Yennefer’s wound together using the needle and thread that she used to adjust her clothes, then dressed and bandaged it.

Her hands were covered in blood when she had finished, and Tissaia noticed that Yennefer’s lips had gone blue and that she was sweating profusely. She guessed that Yennefer’s body had gone into shock because she had lost too much fluid for her heart to pump a sufficient amount of blood to her body. In the morning, Tissaia would have to check whether it had damaged any of her integral organs, and she dearly hoped not. It would be a painful process to heal them and Yennefer had already gone through enough transformation.

Gripping the edge of her chair, Tissaia pulled herself up and walked into her office. She collected a grimoire from one of her shelves and took it back into the bedroom. There was something wrong with Yennefer’s wound, and she was determined to find out what it as before morning. She had already tapped into her reserves trying to heal Yennefer, but this was something she needed to do. Whatever her students may think, Tissaia took her duty of care very seriously. Yennefer might not be her charge anymore, but she would always be Tissaia’s responsibility, and she wasn’t willing to trust anyone else to save her.

**Author's Note:**

> Bad-Things-Happen-Bingo Prompt for choppedcopsharkpsychic on Tumblr: Yennefer and Tissaia bleeding through the bandages, The Witcher Netflix.
> 
> If you have enjoyed this piece of work, please consider leaving a comment.


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